http://www.hindustantimes.com/Draco-s-magic-spells-death-for-viruses/Article1-733053.aspx

....
When a sentinel enzyme called protein kinase R (PKR) finds double-stranded RNA longer than 23 base pairs inside a cell, it binds to the RNA, blocks the production of viral proteins and activates the cell’s defences. Most viruses can evade PKR. So Rider and his team attached PKR to a protein called apoptotic protease activating factor 1 (APAF-1), which releases destructive enzymes to trigger cell suicide before the virus takes over.

Even if virus fragments escape the destroyed cell, they do so minus the protein cover needed to help them travel between cells, which keeps the surrounding healthy tissue free of infection.

There are some challenges, such as DRACO being too large a protein to enter cells with ease. Also, the way the drug functions would make it effective only in very early stages of infection.

In advanced viral infections, destroying all infected cells could lead to organ failure, as may happen if the infected cells are the hepatocyte cells in the liver. In children, people over 65 years and those with compromised immunities — such as people with HIV or liver disease -- the generalised weakness induced by mass cell death could heighten sickness and cause death. The drug would also not work against viruses have evolved ways to conceal their double-stranded RNA.

It’s way too early to uncork the bubbly, but DRACO’s the closest the world’s got to a blueprint of a medical nuke to obliterate viruses, which killed far more people in the last century than the two world wars. It’s effectiveness can only be tested over time because viruses, like bacteria, have a way of staying a step ahead of new and newer prescription medication